Common Questions

Here are some of the common critiques of GSSD and our response:

GSSD has too many functions.

This is correct – GSSD is an overarching platform which includes topic-specific content.

The system caters to many diverse types of users.

This too is correct – the diversity of views is critical in a highly uncertain domain. Different people have different objectives. 

The architecture is too “heavy” and requires too much concentration.

Also correct – the GSSD foundations are grounded in research. See Mapping Sustainability.

GSSD is “reverse Google” – Google returns too much, but GSSD returns too little.

We hope to improve on the “too little,” guided by theory and evidence. 

Providing abstracts is a waste of time—users know what they want.

This point is highly debatable, often users are actually searching and exploring. 

Two languages of GSSD, Arabic and Chinese, are not dominant languages in the scientific or policy communities; why focus on these non-western languages? 

At least one quarter of the world’s population is Chinese speaking. Arabic is one of the least represented languages on the Internet but the Arabic speaking populations are among the most active e-participants.